Answers About Upcoming New U.S. Credit Card Rules

By Tak Lay

Director, U-Haul Self-Storage Affiliate Network

Many of you are well aware that in October, the card payment industry—EuroPay, MasterCard and Visa (EMV)—in the U.S. will undergo a change in fraud liability associated with Chip and PIN. There’s a great deal of confusion on this topic, because online searches for more information are littered with sales-related materials from processing and hardware companies. Much of the material seems meant to alarm business owners and prey on those fears in an attempt to generate new business and sales.

Fear Not!

U-Haul Affiliates, Dealerships and store personnel are fortunate to be part of a solid team with highly skilled people who specialize in understanding what the true requirements are, so that everyone on the team is covered. While hearing of an October deadline may cause you to worry, the truth is that date is meant to be an incentive for issuers, acquirers, merchants and others to push ahead on their move toward Chip and PIN compliance, at least in terms of the liability component.

“We are not so focused on the October 2015 date that we fail to see the bigger picture of what the EMV move to Chip and PIN means for the future of payments,” stressed Scott Van Sande, director of U-Haul Data Privacy and Security. “October 2015 is not the finish line that we cross by being EMV certified by then, it's the starting line. From here on out, EMV will be the new normal.”

“This is something U-Haul systems have been moving toward for several years, even before our payment terminal changes in stores and the move to tokenized credit card transactions,” added Bob Wesson, vice president of U-Haul Field Operations Support. “Chip and PIN solutions for U-Haul POS and WebSelfStorage business platforms are expected to be available to all Canadian retail outlets by the end of the year and everyone else very soon after.”

Bottom line: We have your back!

Until the U-Haul POS and WebSelfStorage software and associated hardware solutions have all received the necessary payment card industry and government banking approvals, and are made available to frontline retail outlets, you can have confidence that your transactions processed through these systems are 100% backed, meaning that the liability related to the Chip and PIN transition is assumed by U-Haul Company.

I truly appreciate and have enjoyed all of the great questions and feedback on this topic. I have posted a few Credit Card Chip and PIN FAQs to address those, and will be adding several more in the days ahead.